Read Novel Full Chapter 398
Chapter 398
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Chapter 398 – Signal Fire
What passed over our heads as we stood on the city walls was a “barrel with wings.”
It had limbs and a head, but they were held in an “attention” position, and it seemed to be reducing air resistance by crawling along its body. Ignoring us as we watched with blank expressions, or perhaps not even recognizing us, the golem seemed to have its sights set on the frigate turning in the bay.
Rinko seems intent on leaving the bay and engaging in battle, and the ship accelerates rapidly, leaving a wake as it heads out to sea. The first attack is launched before it has even left the bay. A magical light flashes from the flying golem as it loses altitude, and a thin beam of light grazes the ship’s stern, causing a flash of steam and splashes of water.
“Whoa!”
Marquis Yerkel gasps, then breathes a sigh of relief when she realizes the ship is unharmed.
“Myrril, was that a heat ray?”
“I don’t know what kind of mechanism it is, but the magic it emitted was a combination of wind and lightning. It seems to be equipped with a magic tool similar to the ‘Distant Thunder Cannon’ that the Imperial Army had in the Southern Continent.”
“I wonder if Rinko and the others are all right.”
“I don’t know, but if it’s fired by magic power, it can’t be inexhaustible. If we can outrun it for a quarter of an hour, the ‘Furigeto’ will win.” [T/n: Frigate].
“Is that so?”
“It’s absurd to think that something so big and heavy can ‘fly.’ Even the ‘Ekuranopuran’ was able to brute-force its way through various problems. However, its flight was still based on the laws of nature.”
“What about flying golems?”
“It’s like flying a ‘Hambi’ with wings attached.” [T/n: Humvee.]
From an engineer’s perspective, it appears that about half of the barrel and wings are made of metal. Of course, aerodynamics and lift are not taken into account. It seems more accurate to say that it is a “magically levitated golem” rather than a “flying” one.
It’s moving up and down, and it looks to me like it’s flying quite nimbly.
“That big thing can’t be called ‘flying.’ You see, when the left side of its body glows, the right side glows, and when the bottom glows, the top glows. It’s like it’s being kicked by magic from the outside.”
That’s true. It looks like Myrril was right. It’s like it’s being lifted by invisible giant feet. If there were passengers on board, it would be a disaster.
Another heat beam was fired. It looked like it grazed the aft deck, but the damage was unknown. It didn’t look like the frigate was affected, but it was too far away to tell. The reason the attack didn’t hit was probably because Rinko and the others were good at maneuvering, but the fact that the golem’s controls were terrible also had an effect. The reason the huge frigate zigzagged its course was probably not to avoid attacks but to let the Golem pass.
I wonder how this strategy would work… If it’s flying, it’s possible it could stall and crash, but in the case of a lift, it would recover (at least in terms of altitude) by being kicked up from below.
A barrage of machine-gun fire was added to the flying golem that had taken up position behind the frigate, attempting to fire a heat ray at close range. The blue-white magical light scattered, and the magical barrier could be seen preventing damage. If the barrier was strong enough to repel machine gun fire, then the magic power consumption must be no joke. The flying golem, which had just begun to move away to gain distance, was hit by a 100mm round from the third cannon in the rear. It seems it managed to avoid being hit in the heart, but the shell gouged out part of its body and knocked off one of its wings, and the “flying barrel” was thrown down to the sea surface in a spinning motion.
“That was quick.”
The magical power push from the lower part of the body might not have been strong enough to lift it out of the water, or perhaps the mechanism itself was damaged. There was no sign of any movement beyond the barrel swaying.
“Hmm… it’s not sinking. Could it be that it turns into a ship when it hits the water?”
As if to confirm the words of the watching Marquis, the barrel began to move forward on the surface of the water, making small splashes from behind. It was much slower than the frigate.
“It’s hopeless.”
Myrril let out a voice that showed her utter despair.
“I have no idea what the people who built this thing were trying to do. Maybe they were ordered to by their superiors and couldn’t refuse.”
Or maybe they were ruminating on their bitter experiences as engineers. Whatever the reason, the sight of the deformed golem chasing the frigate with a movement that looked like it was drowning was pitiful.
The barrel exploded after being hit by a 100mm shell from the frigate’s No. 2 cannon, which had turned 90 degrees.
“Well, that’s to be expected.”
Marquis Yerkel shrugged.
“Yoshua, can you hear me?”
We listened to Rinko’s transmission.
“What’s going on? We’ve seen you fight before.”
“Hmm, I don’t think I was fighting. Anyway, the speaker thing on that thing kept yelling at us, so just to be sure, I’m going to check out the Demon King’s intentions, okay?”
“Huh? A plea for mercy? But you blew it up, right?”
“No. It was an order to surrender to us.”
“Why?”
I couldn’t help but ask. Rinko seemed to know the answer and answered with a laugh.
“I don’t know, but it seems that a new emperor has been enthroned, and the seaport there will become the new imperial capital. The new Emperor himself appealed to us to surrender gracefully, saying that we definitely don’t stand a chance.”
“But who is he?”
“I don’t know. I think he’s related to the Emperor. I heard that he’s in the tower on top of the castle. If he says so himself, maybe he’s a suicide seeker.”
When I looked back, I saw a three-towered building in the center of the city, surrounded by castle walls. It was a rather tall building, with ten stories, which was quite high for a city where most buildings were only two or three stories, but it was too small to be called a castle, and the design was simple. It looked like it had once been a government office or something. Or maybe it still was.
“The distance from the sea to the tower is over a mile. No one but you… or rather, those of us who have been tainted by common sense, thinks that the attack will reach them.”
When the Marquis Yerkel heard this, she looked at Myrril with a doubtful expression. Myrril nodded, and they both turned to look at me. No, don’t look at me like that. Like you’re looking at some kind of strange animal.
“Can I shoot them?”
“Do what you want. If there are any people left from the village of Surz, I want to go there.”
“Understood. I’ll ask the people we took in here. But first…”
In the distance, we could hear the continuous firing of the frigate’s cannons. After a short pause, we saw the towers collapse one by one, sounding like celebratory gunfire.
“The Demon King’s Hammer!”
No, I don’t have much to do with it.
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